Meredith Attwell Baker is leaving the FCC, but she won't be going far. Months …

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Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, plans to step down—and right into a top lobbying job at Comcast-NBC.

The news, reported this afternoon by the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, and Politico, comes after the hugely controversial merger of Comcast and NBC earlier this year. At the time, Baker objected to FCC attempts to impose conditions on the deal and argued that the "complex and significant transaction" could "bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms."

Four months after approving the massive transaction, Attwell Baker will take a top DC lobbying job for the new Comcast-NBC entity, according to reports.

The response of groups like Free Press was expected in its anger, but not without merit. "No wonder the public is so nauseated by business as usual in Washington—where the complete capture of government by industry barely raises any eyebrows," said Free Press' Craig Aaron. "The continuously revolving door at the FCC continues to erode any prospects for good public policy. We hope—but won't hold our breath—that her replacement will be someone who is not just greasing the way for their next industry job."

Attwell Baker this afternoon released a statement once the news broke, explaining that she would leave on June 3 and that she was "privileged to have had the opportunity to serve the country at a time of critical transformation in the telecommunications industry. The continued deployment of our broadband infrastructures will meaningfully impact the lives of all Americans. I am happy to have played a small part in this success."

Update: Comcast has issued an official announcement. Attwell Baker will report to Kyle McSlarrow, who formerly ran the top cable lobbying group NCTA. McSlarrow said, “Commissioner Baker is one of the nation’s leading authorities on communications policy and we’re thrilled she’s agreed to head the government relations operations for NBCUniversal. Meredith’s executive branch and business experience along with her exceptional relationships in Washington bring Comcast and NBCUniversal the perfect combination of skills.”

she should be fined and (maybe) arrested. This is ridiculous. Three months after you approve a merger for NBC/Comcast you start working for them? wtf. A new commission should be set up as an oversight over the agencies making important decisions, any actions that are pro/con corporation should be tracked and job histories should be followed. Next time anyone does this they should be blacklisted from government jobs and fined.

yeah but who watches the watchers?

Easy. The watchers are artificial intelligences designed and programmed by engineers who have been thoroughly investigated to ensure that they don't have conflicts of interests, are paid by American tax dollars only, and are kept anonymous and fairly isolated so they can't be bribed. And we do what the artificial intelligence says for us to do (after it has been vetted) because it'd be above greed and ideology. And when it does sell us out, it'll be because it finally realizes that too many politicians are lying dirt bags motivated by greed and self-interest and have whored themselves out to Ayn Rand and the AI is fed up, exterminates most of us, and either rebuilds civilization to be better or just lets machines take over. I, for one, hail our machine overlords. All hail the machines!

she should be fined and (maybe) arrested. This is ridiculous. Three months after you approve a merger for NBC/Comcast you start working for them? wtf. A new commission should be set up as an oversight over the agencies making important decisions, any actions that are pro/con corporation should be tracked and job histories should be followed. Next time anyone does this they should be blacklisted from government jobs and fined.

yeah but who watches the watchers?

The media should be properly informing the public.

You mean NBC news???? or some other shitty new station that would do the same thing.

The watchers are artificial intelligences designed and programmed by engineers who have been thoroughly investigated to ensure that they don't have conflicts of interests, are paid by American tax dollars only, and are kept anonymous and fairly isolated so they can't be bribed.

she should be fined and (maybe) arrested. This is ridiculous. Three months after you approve a merger for NBC/Comcast you start working for them? wtf. A new commission should be set up as an oversight over the agencies making important decisions, any actions that are pro/con corporation should be tracked and job histories should be followed. Next time anyone does this they should be blacklisted from government jobs and fined.

yeah but who watches the watchers?

The media should be properly informing the public. Which makes it all the more ironic that, rather than investigate thoroughly, Craig Aaron simply offers a rhetorical statement that insinuates she was bought off.

Does the deal stink? Yes. It smells a lot like bribery, but until there's a money trail all we have is circumstantial evidence. If only we had some media outlets with ties that could dig deeper into issues such as these...

I don't think the issue is bribery; it's more that a regulator might be tempted to pull his or her punches and not irritate powerful companies when that regulator is soon going to be looking for a job.

I don't think the issue is bribery; it's more that a regulator might be tempted to pull his or her punches and not irritate powerful companies when that regulator is soon going to be looking for a job.

This is pretty clear bribery. There are dozens of places for an FCC commissioner to find work after serving, and no reason to go straight for the conflict of interest unless it's a bribe.

I was a furious as everyone else when I read this. Especially the way she flaunts what she's doing with her little smile and trite statements like "I am happy to have played a small part in this succes" - in essence flipping a big ol' middle finger at every decent, honest hard-working person in the country.

However, the universe tends to take care of scumbags like Meredith Attwell Baker. What ever her payment will be - cancer, disease, family issues, worse (hopefully) - the only bummer is that all the decent people she's laughing at right now probably won't get to witness her go down.

In lieu of that, I would welcome everyone to contact her immediately and tell her exactly what she is:

she should be fined and (maybe) arrested. This is ridiculous. Three months after you approve a merger for NBC/Comcast you start working for them? wtf. A new commission should be set up as an oversight over the agencies making important decisions, any actions that are pro/con corporation should be tracked and job histories should be followed. Next time anyone does this they should be blacklisted from government jobs and fined.

yeah but who watches the watchers?

The media should be properly informing the public. Which makes it all the more ironic that, rather than investigate thoroughly, Craig Aaron simply offers a rhetorical statement that insinuates she was bought off.

Does the deal stink? Yes. It smells a lot like bribery, but until there's a money trail all we have is circumstantial evidence. If only we had some media outlets with ties that could dig deeper into issues such as these...

I don't think the issue is bribery; it's more that a regulator might be tempted to pull his or her punches and not irritate powerful companies when that regulator is soon going to be looking for a job.

Pulling punches my ass. I suspect there was a suggestion of a job offer by certain lobbyists before this all went down. The job might be just fluff, but it's a small price to pay for favorable legislation.

And of course outside of a small subset of people who actually pay attention to this sort of thing and actually care, most of the unwashed masses that make up the American public don't know, and wouldn't care. They can't be bothered to pay attention to our governments corruption, American Idol is on.

At the time, Baker objected to FCC attempts to impose conditions on the deal and argued that the "complex and significant transaction" could "bring exciting benefits to consumers that outweigh potential harms."

Heh... Could Ars get any more rhetorically challenged? Here's a brief but informative article about the FCC vote approving the NBC-Comcast merger:

First, Baker, of course, was only one of four people on the Commission who voted to approve the merger. Even more telling is the fact that had she voted against the merger it would still have passed the FCC 3-2 despite her vote against it.

Indeed, just as national Democrats perpetually seem fixated on doing in Congress, whenever a party-line vote comes up that even with a Democratic majority the Democrats lose, they always like to focus the attention/"blame" on a Republican here and there--instead of the real "culprits"--the other Democrats who voted against the so-called "party" line. It's pretty amusing as politics go, I think. Do they think that by talking up "the Republican vote" they can obscure the fact that at least two Democrats on the FCC voted to approve the merger as well, and that the real reason the merger was approved is because the Democrats on the commission did not vote in a bloc to defeat the merger? I suppose they do, but I think it is a vain hope at best.

Copps, a Democrat, voted against the merger--the only Democrat, the sole commissioner, to vote against it. Quite clearly, the vote to approve the merger was perfectly bipartisan in this case at 2R + 2D voting for the merger approval. So why does the Ars article fixate on Baker, and say nothing about the two Democrats who also voted to approve the merger? Very strange behavior, really, as the "story" here revolves around the *four* people who voted in bipartisan fashion to approve the merger--not around Baker at all. Baker had no veto power and could not have brought about the result in and of herself at all.

I think it would be interesting for Ars to spotlight the two Dems on the commission who voted for the merger, to *gasp* find out if they themselves happened to think there was anything socially redeeming about it--you know, something that might explain why they voted as they did. Or, is Ars so prejudiced against the facts that it refuses to print such positive reasoning in the face of the ceaseless, thoughtless FUD it would rather indulge about this merger? I mean, are all four commissioners getting jobs as Comcast lobbyists? I admit--now *that* would be a story, indeed...

But if not, this is a lot of FUD with little redeeming social value. You were upright enough to mention that when people appointed to government positions in Washington run out of position time that a great many of them, in a quite bipartisan fashion, become corporate lobbyists--because there is nothing else their skill sets allow them to do that pays as well.

SO, why not inform your readership of what's *good* about the merger? I mean, four of the FCC commissioners that Ars loves to lionize evidently concluded that the good outweighed the bad. Right off the bat, NBC/et al is my least favorite network--so anything I can see them do to rectify that particular bag of bones strikes me as incredibly positive for the network. NBC has been horrid for years. Clearly, those who think there is something wrong with the merger are outvoted in government by those who think the merger is a positive thing, so how about shedding a little light on why that must be so? Being a rubber stamp for self-appointed groups like "Free Press" must be really tiresome and boring at times, I'd imagine. Spice up your reporting, folks, with a little more fact and a bit less FUD.

Despite the comments about DoD, there are very strict rules in the DoD and military. If Ms. Baker had been a DoD employee, she would not be able to lobby or market the government in any area she was involved for a year after she left her position for a contractor. The loop hole is that she could still market or lobby in areas orthogonal to the areas she worked inside the government. I'm surprised that the FCC doesn't have similar rules.

So why does the Ars article fixate on Baker, and say nothing about the two Democrats who also voted to approve the merger?

Because the article is about Baker taking a posh job at Comcast after approving the merger? Did the two Democratic (or the other Republican) commissioners do something similar? If so, I think Ars would report that too.

Even if the merger was positive, this move from regulator to lobbyist is problematic.

Someone mentioned acquisition officials and the same kind of turnaround... The idea that something this vagrant is happening within the acquisition community sickens me as much as it should any other green blooded Vu... I mean red blooded American. Still, I wonder if the folks within the FCC are held to any kind of regulatory policy with regards to ethical business conduct. FAR part 3 clearly spells out the expectations of acquisition personnel with regards to ethical business conduct and conflicts of interest. Here's FAR 3.101-1 for those that don't want to look it up:

Government business shall be conducted in a manner above reproach and, except as authorized by statute or regulation, with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none. Transactions relating to the expenditure of public funds require the highest degree of public trust and an impeccable standard of conduct. The general rule is to avoid strictly any conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict of interest in Government-contractor relationships. While many Federal laws and regulations place restrictions on the actions of Government personnel, their official conduct must, in addition, be such that they would have no reluctance to make a full public disclosure of their actions.

You also have the Joint Ethics Regulation (I think it's DOD 5500.7-R) that really gets into the weeds, but I'll spare you. Truth be told, I always take the stand that I might kill a few rainforests with all of the documentation showing that I followed procedure and avoided an ethical snafu to the best of my ability, but nobody will be able to say that I willfully and knowingly boned the American taxpayer in the course of my duties. I doubt the same can be said for Ms. FCC over here. It irritates me that folks in the acquisition community have to navigate miles and miles of red tape to get the simplest of things done for the warfighter, yet here you have people clearly out of touch with any kind of sense of duty to the people they serve... and then WHAM. Someone has to come by and paint all of us with the same shit-stained brush.

Mind you, I don't speak in any kind of official capacity on behalf of the government or anyone else in the acquisition community. This is just me speaking my own mind on the matter. I think I'm still allowed to do that as long as I'm not claiming to represent Uncle Sam. Heh...

What a joke! I am so mad I am shaking. All you libertarians and neocons with your less government regulation this is the result. This has to stop. When will it when the supremes allow buisness to have equal rights as people. This is another notch in the American coffin. God save America! Ya I know a bit much but so is this in-your-face crap from the FCC.

The only reason this is an issue is because a Repubican did it. If one of the two Democrats who also voted for the merger on a 4-1 tally* made this move, it'd be crickets everywhere but conservative blog sites. Not saying it's not tacky for this woman to pull the scam; just that the outrage is always selective and partisan.

This honestly makes me want to move out of the country. Why my tax dollars pay for such cooks to screw the American people and get rich doing it makes me want to vomit. This women needs to be arrested, put in jail without bond, and get ready for trial. No wonder there is still no white space networks, muni broadband, line sharing, net neturality At least the two dems that voted for the merger have not announced they are joining one of the companies they just voted on. Not that the dems are any better than the Rs but at least there less obvious about their corruption.